This week I will be resigning from my role as Webmaster of the SOI-Seattle Kinship and Inayati Order-Seattle websites. I will also be taking down the Kinship site, as it is not being being used by the community in the way I had hoped. I have learned a lot over the past 4-1/2 years of creating/co-creating, and caring for these sites, and I hope they have been helpful to you in your Journeys. Hafizullah Chisti will be serving as Interim Webmaster and may be reached via the Contact menu tab or link on the Inayati Order-Seattle site.

If you are somewhat tech/web-savvy and would be interested in serving as Webmaster of the Inayati Order website, please send a note to that effect via the Contact link at soi-seattle.org.

Part 3 – Directions for the Labyrinth of Mind.
Saturday, February 17th

Part 4 – Interpreting the given signs.
Saturday, March 3rd

Outside the frame work of our rational consciousness exist a dimension the Sufis call the heart of knowing. We will explore the means by which we can access this evolutionary inheritance, of an intelligent universe.
$ 15.00 donation – Pre-registration requested.
To organize material for the seminar, we would appreciate a call to confirm your participation. 206 363 5803 or email wajid.gallien@gmail.com Leave a message with your name and the date of the seminar.

How can you be ready for the next level of growth? You simply cannot….because like any growth it’s new & you cannot be fully ready for whats new!

We can’t know what we don’t know — and the real knowledge does not come from books or stuff we hear at workshops, but from the kind of direct experience that changes our felt-sense of identity and reality.

Like you can’t “not see” the vase between the profiles or the profiles framing the vase once you see them, the real knowledge is something you can’t not-know about yourself after it finally graces you — and grace is gratuitous, so you can’t engineer or cause this awakening, no matter how profound the affirmations on your fridge door.

So we absolutely must learn to sail the boat of our awakening by doing the practices and practicing the attitudes of the awakened ones… we have to hoist the sail or nothing happens, but the currents are what they are and the wind is going to be what it’s going to be, and we can’t control those things, we can only surrender to them.

My response to a Facebook post promoting a book proposing to help you change your “story” using Jungian psychology & shamanism:

Don’t just change your Story. Dump it altogether. An “improved” Story is just a reaction to, and still just as false as, who you believed yourself to be before the makeover. You are just creating further duality in your being and will forever be on the seesaw of these two poles.

It’s still small potatoes and beneath your highest human and spiritual potential. Even the most beautiful Story is a prison to the soul, which longs for absolute freedom.

Shame comes at us from many different directions — families of origin, the guilt-tripping religious world, the competitive marketplace, the collective consciousness itself. I know of very few people who move through the world with a healthy sense of self, with a real appreciation for their divinity and inherent magnificence.

And the spiritual bypass movement just makes things worse for those who are seeking answers, bashing the ego in its entirety, repressing the shadow in the name of a version of enlightenment that is more self-avoidant than expansive, and even characterizing the body as spiritually sub-standard, as though the divine made a mistake putting us in human form.

This cycle is often perpetuated by the artificial-forgiveness community, who diminish those who dare to work on their unresolved feelings by telling them that their feelings are an illusion, their experiences are mischaracterized, their stories tiresome. Just jump out of your process and forgive your wrongdoers — put their process ahead of even your own.

Levels and levels of madness, that leave spiritual seekers entirely confused about the value of healing the “pain body” and elevating the self-concept. Let’s get this straight — Shame is not an illusion. Self-loathing is not an illusion. Our stories are not illusions. Abuse and neglect are not illusions. And the need to heal our hearts and elevate our self-concepts is essential to healthy functioning. Pretending things aren’t real doesn’t make them go away. Facing them does.

I believe that the stories are illusions, from the perspective of that of us which is self-subsisting — but the wounding certainly is not illusory, and everyone’s wounding deserves to be respected and held in compassion, even while we confront and deconstruct the community collusion to avoid getting real about its power.

That we armor and protect ourselves in this society is not news to anyone reading this. And we also treasure those times when we feel that our emotions and expression are fully received, unconditionally respected, and ‘held’ — partly because those experiences are so very rare.

Research has shown that the more we can live in a relatively undefended state, our whole life is benefited, our physical health as well as our relationships. But it sometimes takes great courage and self-confidence to ‘de-squam’ (Pir Vilayat’s term) ourselves of the contrivances of defense.

I think the sensation of being “vulnerable” and therefore on tenuous ground stems from a time in our life — early childhood, when we were first getting the hang of embodiment. We really were dependent upon those around us — our caregivers and teachers — to clearly mirror our awesomesauce back to us so that we could fully own it. They either didn’t see it, or they judged it, or they tried to make it into something else. So we carry the wounds of that, of being not-seen or of being seen in a distorted or hurtful way.

The spiritual and psychological reality is that as adults it doesn’t matter at all how we are seen by others, and even if we make a self-disclosure that is somehow judged or misused by another, it won’t result in actual damage to us. But to the extent that we are living a re-echo of that truly vulnerable time in the past, we might buy into a demeaning or belittling image of ourselves and become very contracted and reactive around it.

So it is incumbent upon us to be aware of those tender places in ourselves and in each other, and to treat our defenses with a certain degree of respect. Our defenses were once a solution to a problem, and we won’t give them up until we see ourselves differently.

Spiritual community is a crucible; no one’s ego is their private property — though in any social gathering, the social contract includes a subtle collusion to avoid exposing member’ wounds. But it’s a proper function of spiritual community to expose everyone’s uncooked places to themselves.

Having said that, we do not need to do anything intentional or explicit to make that happen. It does that by itself, and is not personal. It is NOT truly compassionate to expose another’s tender place without their explicit permission, like, you are their therapist. It is an *attack* to call someone down on their defense; it puts you one-up and just makes the other person more defended.

But at the same time, where there is an atmosphere of acceptance, we can begin to experiment with being more permeable to each other and to take some risks with being more open and self-disclosing. The more unconditional acceptance abides in the presence in the space, the easier this can be, to the point that we really can just unzip our egos and step out of them.

That doesn’t mean that the old wounds will not surface — just the opposite, in fact — it means that you’re actually ready to engage those wounds in a way that they can be healed and that a certain developmental process that was stalled in childhood gets restarted.

Therefore the best way of doing the work is to do all we can, do it thoroughly, do it wholeheartedly, and do it quietly. H.I.K

“The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become conscious of the shadow without considerable moral effort. To become conscious of it involves recognizing the dark aspect of the personality as present and real. This act is the essential condition for any kind of self-knowledge, and it therefore, as a rule, meets with considerable resistance.” C.G. Jung

“I had terribly strong attachment to my personal history. My family roots were deep. I honestly felt that without them my life had no continuity or purpose. . . . I don’t have personal history anymore. . . . I dropped it one day when it was no longer necessary.” Don Juan

Centering.

Ours is the way of the lover. Love is a discipline of the heart, the same way metaphysics is a discipline of the mind. Love refines the emotions. When doing a practice when we touch on the archetype, what we discover is love. The process of reaching the archetype is an act of surrender. The doer and the doing cannot co-exist, in the end only the archetype prevails, and the archetype is one of the facets of the jewel of love.

We wonder why it is so difficult to “breakthrough”. What is it that distorts and stands in the way of my love? The answer to the question is in our intention. Not all motives, though spiritual, are pure. Often enough they are not even an intention, but an impulse. Some look to compensate for frailty of character, some to gain power, others for an easy way in life. Any such desires, conscious or unconscious are like a weight on our spirit, keeping it from reaching its natural fulfillment.

Cake Making

The spiritual journey is about knowing oneself, a journey toward the “Perfection” of love, harmony and beauty. We could think of the journey as baking a special cake. We constantly are adding new ingredients to the dough we are working on, hoping for perfection, although we know how difficult that can be, as each ingredient changes the total quality of the dough, when put together with a combination of other ingredients, creating a mix unique to itself. Eventually time runs out and the baking must take place whether we are ready or not. The transition into the oven highlights the finality of the process, and the cake is done. For humans it is the time of death, whereby whatever perfection we have attained is absorbed, consumed by the universe, and reinvested in a furthering of universal growth and evolutionary momentum.

I am encouraged by the recent focus of our order to look into finding some way to contribute to the increasingly urgent need of our time. As I am sure many of us are aware, due to the global scope, breadth and depth of this situation, to take on such enormous challenge requires a concerted effort of organizational attention that needs expression both, at the local and global level. If you have been exposed to the teachings of Hazrat Inayat khan you probably know to differentiate between the two, that is to say that to achieve coherence at the global level it makes sense to start at the local level (unless we have some special dispensation that takes us to the global level). My interest and contribution has been, and continues to be, for the last few years, at the local level. By local I mean learning about oneself, one’s attitude, one’s thoughts, and habits that constantly contribute in subtle ways to what becomes the problem.

It is easier to disregard one’s action and reactions to focus on the larger problem, as it eliminates feeling responsible, and provides a sense of heroism in one’s dedication, with instant gratification, a feeling of satisfaction, that involves minimal changes in one’s life routine.

Such is the way of the self-centered dark mind, the lower mind that provides our survival instinctual impulses. When I call it dark I do not mean “evil” I simply using a term that brings attention to our motivations, that compares it to the light mind, which functions on interest other than self, without the ulterior motives that tend to be present in actions that have some subtle element of self-centered interest, the instinctual survival function of the dark mind. It is a tool provided by nature to support us, nature has also provided the means to rise beyond it.

We tend to habitually pay attention to the negative to make sure we continue surviving, which has its place. Now we also need to focus on the positive with some conscious attention, or awareness, to bring a balance that reveals the love, harmony and beauty elements into our actions into our lives.

All of this to say, let’s stay alert in the moment, here and now, and it will take us a long way into solving our global problem, for a better tomorrow.

This approach observes the elements and recognizes their relatedness to one another, compared to just their individuality. In other words, to form our physical body the elements have blended with each other, while retaining their individual qualities. Earth without water would be dry, brittle, and unfertile. Water would dissipate at a much faster rate and would be unable to acquire the life giving mineral that it draws from its relationship with the earth. Fire would not have its relationship with earth and water that provide some of the material for its consumption. Moreover, it would not provide the warmth that maintains the flexibility of earth and water, as they would freeze. AIR would lose its subtle gift of form from earth, unable to contain its moisture from water, and the life sustaining temperature of fire.

Our body’s health has a direct relation to the state of the four elements, earth providing a unique combination of mineral nourishment, a central bone structure and endurance. Water allows the movement of the minerals and the lubrication of all the parts. Fire provides the appropriate temperature, warmer to soften and eliminate toxins through the lymphatic system, cooler when preserving the overall energy. Air moves the very subtle toxins and carries cool and warm currents in the space between the atoms and molecules of our body.

Medicine is the modern interpretation of the art of Alchemy (The word alchemy may derive from the Old French alquimie, which is from the Medieval Latin alchimia, and which is in turn from the Arabic al-kimia (الكيمياء‎) which uses the four elements. From this perspective, it is important to remember that each element contains the others, that we are an ongoing miracle as the result of the harmonious relationship of the elements with each other at their most fundamental level, a harmony that progresses from the gross level, to the subtle, continuing into the very subtle or ethereal.

Spirituality is the starting point of the alchemical process, from the “subtle” into the “very subtle.” We are co-creators for the artistic creative impulse of Divine Intelligence. A process that started millions of years in the past, and from our standpoint will continue far into the future. At its worst, through an unconscious drive in every particle of our body, and at its best with our conscious participation through contributing acts of consciousness and will.

Therefore being attentive to what we ingest or not into our “bodies,” is a knowing priority of a holistic spirituality. By bodies, I mean, physically, food and drinks, emotionally, atmosphere and relationships, mentally, thoughts and ideas, psychically choices of attunement, musical and inspirational. They are not separate from each other. Our being forms an interdependent holographic radiant structure, entrusted to us to navigate through the turbulent sea of life.

Do you know yourself? Actually, this is a rhetorical question, as the purpose of life is one of discovery, at each of the stages of our life. To discover for the first time what it is like to be in this moment. An instant never manifested before, never to recur. The answer though, is a conundrum, the product of all our yesterday.

In the silence of the moment at the end of a practice, listen to the resonance of the sound reverberating throughout all the dimensions of your being. Having stretched the boundary of your senses, ride the resonance into the angelic realm, supported by wings of light. Allow yourself to transit into a domain of splendor.

The wings are the breath’s two poles, united at the junction of your heart. The quality of the light is the result of your trust in the purity of our intention and the clarity of our dedication. You are now, in this instant in the everywhere, always, here and now.

Jabril – Arabic jabrīl or jabra’īl: The angel Gabriel, archangel of the messengers. A compound word based on Arabic versions of the ancient Hebrew roots, variously interpreted as signifying: God is my Strength, God’s Warrior, God’s Might; the Arabic root j-b-r is based on the Hebrew g-b-r meaning mighty, strong, powerful, proud, warrior; and the Arabic ‘īl is based on the Hebrew ‘el, meaning the One God. (in some texts as Jebrail or Jibra’il) ( wikipedia)

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This early morning I am meditating on a beautiful pictorial story, found in the book “The Voyage of the Messenger” by Henry Corbin. I am moved by the beauty, the form created by the words of the story, my heart flirts with memories of an ancient relationship, between lover and beloved. Lost in the experience of the moment, a whisper in my ear startles me: “If you think of me, how can I not be present? Would you share the story once again?

W) Gabriel, I am humbled. I should have remembered that to name you is to invoke you. Yes, it is my pleasure to share this beautiful story. It starts when…

“Mariam is confronted by the apparition of superhuman beauty; she at first seeks refuge in divine protection. The Angels says to her:

From my visible Form, you flee into the invisible…

In truth, my home and dwelling are in the invisible world…

O Maryam! Look closely, because I am a Form which is difficult to perceive.

I am the new moon, and I am the Image in the heart.

When an image comes into your heart,

You flee in vain. This Image remains in you,

Unless it be only a vain and insubstantial image,

Melting and disappearing like a false dawn.

But I am like the new dawn, and I am the light of your Lord.

For there is no night which circles around my day…

You seek refuge from me in God,

Yet in all of eternity, I am the image of the sole Refuge.

I am the Refuge which has often been your deliverance –

You seek refuge from me, and it is I who am the refuge.

Gabriel) Yes, I like this rendering. Nevertheless, the dialog puts an accent on fear of the inner-self. It highlights an instinctive reaction of consciousness to the untamed call of the heart. The dialog reveals disbelief on a higher self, an angelic self, which is symptomatic of a loss of innocence, of a lost romantic hopefulness. Overly saturated with angel’s stories humanity is at the point when our secularized image has lost its sacredness. Your teacher (Pir Vilayat) in order to avoid this association sometimes called us beings of light. It removes the cloak of identification associated with a specific name. Yet at the same time, the lack of identifier removes the intimacy and familiarity of an historical personal relationship with humanity.

W) I suppose the challenge of sharing a delicate attunement of Divine love through words is in holding the sacred atmosphere in the heart of the lover. Music can be a supporting tool, the right kind of music.

Gabriel) As a flower produces an aroma, angels produce an atmosphere, sometimes translated as a celestial sound or words, as in this case. We may appear ethereal in relation to you, but we are corporeal when contrasted to God. We are the mirror of your soul in which you discover your destiny.

W) These are beautiful words and they create a poetical image, yet I am not sure I really grasp what you are attempting to convey.

Gabriel) Perhaps because you are usually focused on the words and are missing the subtlety of the melody, the medium through which the essence of our conversation is held. You need to know that consciousness does not function in the angelic realm. A different mode of thinking come into play, in this realm you are the observer and the observed, there is no separation.

W) That perspective totally changes the way I relate to life. How can I possibly function and deal with every day needs. I mean, is it possible to sustain such a state of inclusiveness.

Gabriel) In the words of Pir Vilayat “This secret is trying to reveal itself to you, but you would be so overwhelmed if you were to discover the magnitude of your real being in the universe. Therefore, you are being protected from that knowledge until you are ready for it.”

W) I apologize if I seem insistent in my question but, how do I get ready?

Gabriel) The veil that conceals the divine is also the clue that reveals Him/Her. When the heart opens and the mind has learned humbleness, then the path lightens up with the spirit of guidance, revealing it to have been present from the start. You awaken to the divine intention.

W) Is the divine intention the equivalent of truth?

Gabriel) The divine intention is unique for each heart. Truth is, in accordance to one’s attunement to the heart’s intention. A child cannot understand truth in the same way an adult can. We, angels and humans, are God’s children in our search and understanding of truth. When innocence and wisdom become companions, the radiance of beauty illuminates the way to maturity.

W) Maturity feels faraway. I am not sure I have the patience it might take to reach that level of experience.

Gabriel) Maturity is not like a school system where you learn from the memory of books, even if some teachers present it that way, to provide familiarity. In this life experience form of learning, you are your own teacher, and the teaching is not always from A to B and C, it might start with C leading retroactively to A bypassing B. Much of it is experiential and outside your usual time and space framework. Pockets of seemingly unrelated knowledge come together attracted by the sympathetic resonance of your intention, at a crucial moment they harmonize and come together into a revelation. Revelations will make sense, but not if you force it into traditional rational thinking.

W) You mean like the AHa! moment, when a light goes on in our mind? Followed by our attempt to make sense out of it?

Gabriel) Yes, a light illuminating a little more of the darkness of ignorance. When you align yourself to the quality of your intention, these experiences increase exponentially. For some this adjustment between two planes of existence can be a difficult period. Either the secular or the angelic world can be an irritation, depending in which one you are trying to function. Eventually you realize the non-existing distance between the two and you become whole.

W) It always seems to come back to the distance created by the duality in which consciousness functions. Can we really be in the world (consciousness) but not of it?

Gabriel) Yes, that is what I have been saying, when you discover yourself to be myself. “You seek refuge in me, yet you are already here.United in love, when “we are” gives way to, “I am.”

Meditate on this while you do the practice, Malik al Mulk (The Master of the Kingdom, The Owner of All Sovereignty, The Lord of Absolute Ruling Power. The One who is sole owner, possessor and ruler of all kingdoms. The One whose ruling power and authority have no limit.)